This seemed like a good treat for all of us last night. There was a little celebrating going on because I finished my first sprint triathlon. I have been participating in an open water swim clinic put on by the parks & rec department and the final class was a mini tri to get us all ready to do the Whidbey Triathlon (only 9 more days!). We did a 1/2 mile swim – which I thought might kill me (it didn’t – but it’s definitely where I need the most work), a 10 mile bike ride, and a 1.5 mile run. I was feeling a little discouraged at the end because I came in second to last place – but now I’m just feeling good that I actually did it! My husband was encouraging me to think of how far I’ve come in the past couple of months -  considering I haven’t done much biking or swimming since I was a kid I think I’m doing alright! And at the end of it all I thought I deserved a treat

My son said “this is pretty much chocolate milk, why don’t you just call it chocolate milk?” But I think there is definitely a richer, smoother flavor to this recipe than your typical chocolate milk. And when you add whipped cream and more chocolate on top it doesn’t get much better! I think it’s a great treat for a warm Summer evening. Hope you enjoy it.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

• 2 oz dark chocolate
• 3 cups milk, divided
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T chocolate syrup
• 3 cups ice

1. Break dark chocolate into pieces and mix with 1 cup milk and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat on medium low until chocolate is melted. Let cool.
2. Mix melted chocolate mixture, the rest of the milk, chocolate syrup and ice in a blender and blend away. Top with whipped cream and some little bits of chocolate.

Whipped Cream

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 T sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine all ingredients and whisk away if you’re wanting a workout, or stick everything in your stand mixer and let your Kitchen Aid whisk for you.

We love our cows. To be honest, they did take some getting used to. I think we took some getting used to for them too. I was frightened at the beginning – Jason kept telling me to let them know who was boss, but I wasn’t sure how to do that. But it’s been pretty easy to feel in charge once I got over the whole fear issue!

Our cows are Dexters. It’s a smaller breed. Effie is full-grown and stands about chest height. We decided to go with a smaller breed because we didn’t think we would need gallons of milk every day and then we would also be able to feed them less than a jersey. We end up getting between 8 and 10 cups of milk a day. We milk her in the evening after Jason gets home from work. We are able to milk her just once a day and after the milking is done we let her and T-Bone (her bull calf) hang out the rest of the night. Jason separates them in the morning before he heads to work.  We would get more milk if we weaned her calf and also if we milked her twice a day. But this arrangement has been working out well for our family. This past weekend we took a day trip to see my brother and his family up in Vancouver and we were able to let the cows be together and then we didn’t have to worry about the milking.

We end up drinking most of the milk. If we get more than we can drink I make cheese. The only thing about having a Dexter is that we don’t really get enough milk to make butter. I don’t know if the fat content is much lower than a jersey would be or if it’s just the volume.

We also end up drinking quite a bit of chocolate milk. I am training for a triathlon and I hear it’s a good recovery drink (it’s nice to have an excuse, anyways).  I either make it in the blender I just dump in one cup milk, 1 T cocoa, 1 T sugar and a little vanilla and blend it up or I use a chocolate syrup and stir in about 1 Tablespoon into a glass of milk.

Chocolate Syrup

• 1 cup cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Sift cocoa and sugar into saucepan.
2. Add water and salt and heat over medium-low heat until it begins to simmer, stirring frequently.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Enjoy in a glass of milk or over a bowl of ice cream.

My husband and I went on a much needed vacation to Italy last month, and while we were there I drank absolutely no Italian sodas! I’m not quite sure if these are authentic or not. I buy the syrup at Cost Plus World Market, so maybe that makes them international!!

None of this seems super Italian, but I’m no expert! Italian Sodas are, however, super easy, and very tasty. We made these last night with our anniversary dinner in the hopes that it would take us back to the serene twelve days where all of our children were with their grandparents! Sadly, it did not work. Although my kids did like stirring the sodas with their straws! We pretty much considered this dessert with dinner!

Here’s a little bit of Italian summer to enjoy in your own home!!

Italian Sodas:

Ingredients:

• Club Soda
• 1 oz.  Cream
• 1 oz. Flavored Syrup (my husband likes a bit more, but you can always add more. This drink can get really sweet really fast.)
• Ice

Directions:

1. Fill a tall glass 3/4 full with ice. If your ice maker does crushed ice, all the better.
2. Add the syrup. You can mix and match if you like, but we went with strawberry.
3. Next fill the glass with the club soda.
4. Top it off  with the cream.
5. If you want to be way over the top you can add whipped cream and a cherry!

p.s. Today is Christina’s birthday. I know she’d love it if you’d all wish her a happy birthday in the comments!! You can also bring her a DQ ice cream cake (oh wait, maybe that’s me!), or anything whole grain!!